Sometimes a little vertical lift is all that’s needed to turn finicky tuna into ravenous hordes.
Promises of easy speckled trout limits are often taken with a grain of salt. However, you shouldn’t have a skeptical ear if you hear Capt. Ben Leto of Louisiana Fishing Expeditions (985-630-2066) say he’s busting them. He’s been catching limits out of Hopedale the past few days before the clock hits 8 a.m. “I had two people just the other day, and they had 50 trout,” Leto said. “We’ve just been hammering them in the 1- to 3-pound range. They’re not as big as we catch from April through July, but they are nice, fat fish. There’s a ton of bait in the water.”
Leto has been concentrating mainly on the west side of Black Bay, Calebasse and Machias. The fish have been hanging out over oyster reefs in 3 to 5 feet of water. Leto reported that he hasn’t had to go too far from the marsh all summer long.
“The topwater bite has been great,” he said. “We’ve been pounding them on a bone-colored Spook or Top Dog. Everything’s bone right now. I don’t know if it’s because that’s just what I’m throwing or if they’re keying in on it.
“If they stop eating the topwater, I just switch over to that Redbone Speckulizer. They’ll get fired up again eating that thing, and I can switch back to the Spook or Top Dog and get them again.”
After Leto gets the trout limits in the boat, he starts hitting the redfish around the grass and broken islands. The redfish have been all over Coquille and Calebasse. Leto and his crews have been catching them on shrimp under a popping cork.
“We’ve caught them up to 18 pounds,” he said. “There are a lot of grilling-sized reds around, though. It’s been great to get out and get our fish before it gets too hot.
“We’ve got everything set up nice now to sleep 10 anglers real comfortable, so if you want to get in on some of this hot Hopedale fishing just give us a call.”
